Comments on: RIMPAC- Foreign Policy Tool or Snoozer?

By: Gina DiNicolo

Gina DiNicolo — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 14:45:48 +0000

I find the value these commenters place on “jobs” intriguing. That the Warfighting Lab and I parted company is just how things go sometimes. I find this more an issue of control than hysteria over an accurate, albeit provocative, blog entry. I will tell you the lab says it was upset because it was a guest of the Navy’s “RIMPAC” exercise. I guess that is true on some level, but the Navy needs the Marine Corps for help in the relevance department.

Again, this is about control. How can the lab control what a contractor writes, especially if the work is accurate and penned off the clock? I don’t think we have an answer for that.

I was told by the head of public affairs for Quantico that the decision to get rid of me came from “many levels above the lab.” I was negotiating the H1 (in Honolulu) through traffic, so I did not ask a lot of questions. I don’t know what he meant, and it simply did not matter.

The RIMPAC entry was thought-provoking and somewhat complimentary. It was informative. These things happen between clients and contractors and can be quite liberating.

By: Should a Blogger get fired from her Full Time Job? | The Fire PIO

Should a Blogger get fired from her Full Time Job? | The Fire PIO — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 14:04:24 +0000

[...] Here is the complete post. [...]

By: Web Feet Integrated Marketing » Blog Archive » PR Consultant Fired By Marine Corps for Mocking Military Event

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 21:48:41 +0000

[...] said that her blog post is her own point of view and be taken separately from her work as a PR contractor. Obviously, the [...]

By: When PR and Blogging Collide – Conflict or Censorship? « CommuniKaytrix – Upfront Commentary on PR, Social Media and Communications

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 17:24:50 +0000

[...] building and joint operations.” After attending the event, she retitled the event “SNOOZEPAC” on her blog and proceeded to infer the meeting of the minds was little more than a gorgefest and floating [...]

By: Battle Rattle - A Marine Corps Times Blog – ‘SNOOZEPAC’ blog entry gets public affairs contractor ousted from RIMPAC

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 05:31:31 +0000

[...] key section of her post, up on the Military Officers Association of America blog, Inside the Headquarters: Despite the size, locale and agenda, these games seem anything but [...]

By: Gina DiNicolo

Gina DiNicolo — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 16:00:09 +0000

Mr. Gibson,

I cannot tell if you are kidding or serious. Your post has merit either way.

By: ArmyGuy

ArmyGuy — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 14:27:45 +0000

So what’s your point? Yes, sometimes it is better to go it alone. Sometimes it is better to cut the tangled line. Sometimes it is better to drop the dead weight of “allies” who don’t pull their share of the load. Moreover, it would behoove the US to have the capability to “go it alone” lest they risk survival. History has shown us time and again that a country can’t afford to risk its security on the backs of allies. Bad move. One only has to look at Poland and Czechoslovakia during WWII for an example.

Your statement iregarding republican officers is w/o merit . I know plenty of democrats in the officer corps. Not sure where you get your info.

By: Michael Gibson

Michael Gibson — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 03:05:02 +0000

Isn’t it preferable for the US to go it alone in its foreign and defence policies and not rely on tiresome allies? Isn’t that what the Bush doctrine was all about and aren’t all US military officers (retired and active) Republicans anyway? From this article it looks as though the answers to these questions are all in the affirmative.

By: OJ

OJ — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 23:35:42 +0000

“A floating Cocktail Party? In the Navy? Why I’ve never … !”

Certainly not in *our* US Navy since Josephus Daniels, as Secretary of the Navy “banned alcohol from United States Navy ships in General Order 99 of 1 June 1914. ” A ban that has stood until the present day.

Gina’s “floating Cocktail Party” refers to the joint exercise’s involvement of 13 *other* nation’s ships, many of whom follow the Brit Royal Navy’s practice. Although the RN’s grog ration has gone away, their sailors are allowed to drink aboard ship in their off duty hours (not free, as in grog ration days, but at typical military EM club prices). I’ve taken advantage of that on many a visit to a RN or Canadian ship docked nearby in the evenings when their mess deck, after dinner, has been turned into a slop chute (USMC for EM club) for the off-duty crew. As a mere enlisted snuffy, I can only envy the attraction of those ships’ wardrooms to visiting VIPs flying in during RIMPACs. Gina’s “floating Cocktail Party” characterization, I suspect, has more than a grain of truth in it.

Deponent remains silent on the other pros and cons of SNOOZEPAC raised by ArmyGuy.

[Josephus Daniels quote from his Wikipedia entry.]

By: The Scoop Deck – Gasp! Is RIMPAC a ’snoozer?’

The Scoop Deck – Gasp! Is RIMPAC a ’snoozer?’ — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 23:24:47 +0000

[...] Rim of the Pacific exercise, at which take-no-prisoners blogger Gina DiNicolo has leveled this broadside: Despite the size, locale and agenda, these games seem anything but exciting. Take away the French, [...]